What does the data show? Pretty much steady state with improvement in class diversity. And there’s both good news and bad from an applicant perspective.

The most noteworthy change is a 9% increase in minorities of U.S. origin in the class. The percentage of internationals went down insignificantly, but I expect that small decline will reverse itself in this upcoming application cycle since Columbia now has a no-cosigner loan program fully operational for international MBA students.

The 1-point dip in CBS’ average GMAT score is also not significant, especially given the lower acceptance rate and higher yield that Columbia enjoyed last year. It is a little surprising because of the GMAT score arms race that seems to have gripped much of CBS’s competition. (Chicago, Kellogg, and Wharton have all reported increased average GMAT scores for their incoming classes.)

Apparently in this past year CBS chose to focus more on diversity and less on the GMAT. I expect that CBS will want to report an increase in its GMAT average in the upcoming class. And with it’s 715 score, it still remains one of a handful of schools with an average GMAT equal or greater than a lofty 715.